HandsomeMike

Painrace- I will be doing my first HPDE in the prime drive group on 9/27 at the NCM track. I'd be honored for you to be my instructor if you will be teaching that weekend.

Bink

Great thread, Arte! Very informative. Thanks!!

joel

AND0

This.

My first driving event ~ 20 years ago I had 185 hp in my mustang. The most powerful car there was a Buick GNX with ~350 hp. How do instructors deal with ultra cars with novice drivers?

Of course the level of instruction was a bit less than today's.
I was solo'ed after one session my first time out at Heartland Park.
My second driving event there was only a single lead-follow for a session, then solo, at Sears Point.
My third driving event the instructor was a formula Vee racer, and his only feed back was "Whoah! This thing's fast!" about my 225 hp CMC Camaro at Thunder Hill.

Slow cars are the way to learn.

jaa1992

My first question is "What are your goals for the day/weekend?"
If it isn't "Have fun and drive my car home" we have a discussion about what goes wrong when the loud pedal is pushed too hard in the wrong place on the track. The first session is "learn the track in one gear" that seems to help with smoothness. Then we work on "squeezing" the gas down in the RIGHT spots.

I love instructing folks, so I'm even out there with my slow as a turtle, heavy as a battleship V6 Camaro.

Painrace

Mike, it would be an honor. You need to contact Mitch Wright at mitch@motorsportspark.org or matt@motorsportspartpark.org and make the request.

I live in Mt. Juliet, TN so we live close.

You can contact me at Painrace@bellsouth.net.

Look forward to seeing you.

Jim

Painrace

Blind leading the blind!

Jim

Racingswh

I hear this quite often and I always wonder why?

Why not just learn to drive an extremely fast car well that you will probably never outgrow right from the start?

I have never been a fan of slow cars myself. I will instruct anyone in anything, as evidenced by my last student, a 19 yr old girl in her Cayenne SUV and another time instructing a young man in his Fiat Spec series race car, but the most fun for me is instructing in extremely fast cars no matter what they are as long as they are safe and well prepared. Interestingly my best students throughout the years for the most part have driven Corvettes.

Coach62

Slow cars are dangerous when faster cars are on the track, many can attest to that.

Learn to drive fast using a slow car???? So says the owner of slow cars no doubt. Total BS IMHO.

I think the cars should be separated by class more so than driver experience. I've seen just as many slow cars spin out, after clogging up the track and causing traffic jams.

At the Corvette track events there isn't that much of a problem. But go to a normal event and run a Z06 on the same track as a 4 cyl POS with a 5' wing mounted 3' up in the air.

brkntrxn

Why learn in a slow car?

Lots of reasons:

- track speed is ALL about maintaining momentum in the corners. You will learn that in a low hp car Sooner than you will in a high hp car where you can make up distance in the straight with your right foot.
- compressed brake zones. You will learn to compress your brake zones much sooner in a low hp car versus a high hp car. The speeds are slower, the danger is decreased, and the heart rate is lower in that "oh my god I have to stop" moment.
- consumables are cheaper. The key to learning anything is by doing it. With a cheaper car, you can do it more often, thereby getting more seat time, thereby learning sooner.
- you have to earn every single pass you make. Which means you had to put together a perfect series of corners in order to get up on that car ahead. You learn how to do this sooner in a low hp car because there is no right foot crutch.

But by all means, please tell everyone to go get a fast car, do a couple of DEs, and then do comp school and come race. I love those guys in the 500-700hp field filler cars at the back of the pack. Or getting in the way of my 300hp car... At... Every.... Single... Corner.

JeremyGSU

Bill32

My last student in a fast car, 07 Z06, drove at 25 mph in all the turns and hit 60 on the straight.

I asked him how fast the drove on the interstate to the track, he said "75".

The event before that, my student in a '14 C7 managed to hit 75 on the straight. The second session, he thought it would be a good idea if I drove for the first half.

Before that a 04 Z06 with a maniac novice.
2 laps - pulled him into the hot pit and discussed the track time he was loosing by sitting here talking to me.
Turned a fast car into a slow car and had a good day.

In 18 years, I've only had 2 fast cars that I couldn't turn into slow cars.

SouthernSon

We all know that all cars are momentum cars. But, in order to learn how to anchor the rear with throttle while shooting the apex takes a little HP. A case can be made for each type. But, back to the instructor part of this thread, an experienced instructor can teach in HP cars, momentum cars, RWD, FWD and AWD. Personally, I don't favor one over the other while riding right seat. I like to drive high HP rear wheel myself. And, I do have a preference for an attentive driver no matter the type car.

I guess it falls in the realm of an experience I had, in another life, as a commercial hard hat diver in the Gulf. We were on a job in the muddy Mississippi. A new diver showed up to join the group with a nice new shiny diving helmet, dry suit, pretty little shiny things hanging off of his weight belt. During his stint in the water he lasted about 5 minutes. He came up, declared himself a 'blue water' diver and walked off the job. I am sure there are many that were there still laughing about that. Point being, if it is your job, you handle it as best you can no matter the circumstances given you.

el es tu

was this at a go kart track?

Bill32

Ha, no. Plus the speeds of my go karts would scare the hell out of those Corvette drivers.